This build features expanded Building mechanics and the new Storage system!

This build transitions our latest work on the experimental branch to the stable branch – the new Storage system. In case you missed our rundown of the new feature in the experimental patch notes, the mechanics are very simple and fast – if you’re looking at a container, press [Tab] to open it to display a similar radial style menu as the backpack inventory. The basic radial mechanics are the same as the inventory, except now you will see a small backpack at the bottom that you can click on to toggle between your backpack and the storage container and vice-versa. Clicking on items in either ‘container’ will transfer the item to the other container. Most containers will be able to be picked up, but containers cannot store other containers.

Every couple of months we pause to revaluate the project to make sure we’re on the right track, listen to feedback and address outstanding bugs. We’ve made some adjustments in this build based on player feedback. A few players have requested the option to choose between toggling the new radial menus open vs. the existing ‘rocker’ functionality so we’ve added an option for that in the input settings. We’ve improved the Charging mechanic for projectile-based weapons so you can now stop charging a weapon without needing to wait for the charging animation to complete. It seems like a small tweak but all helps to add polish. The new Crafting menu now also keeps a bit more of a memory. Individual crafting category tabs will keep a memory of their last subcategory and scroll position until you change category. This should help speed up things like building in particular where you might use the same tab and combination multiple times. One of the bigger changes is that we’ve removed the polarizing Discovery Fog feature which you can read more details on in the patch notes below. We’re also actively working on bringing back the old Infinite Procedural Generation. Please bear with us while we work on integrating this system with the Cartographer. The Cartographer will still remain, providing a small starting world or ‘archipelago’ to start in. From there you can venture further out from the starting world and it will be infinite in any direction. We’re also working on an end game scenario which will require you to find rare items and put down roots on an island to piece together your recue.

We’ve noticed a lot of support emails coming in regarding missing subcategories in the new Crafting menu. 9.9/10 this is fixed by verifying the game files in Steam. It appears to be a problem with Steam’s version control between the updates as the problem is solved by verifying the files.

BUG FIXES
- Fixed Dragging not using current clicked position making dragging more difficult than it should be.
- Fixed animal Ragdoll bones only saving position not physics related data, ie: stop Sharks flying when loaded. This fix is not retroactive but will take effect after your next save.
- Fixed projectiles interfering with Ragdoll physics when killed.
- Fixed floating Containers when loading a Custom Map.

NEW FEATURES

- New Storage Menu!

- New Building Mechanic!
Building has been expanded and broken down. Most building pieces now have 2 different stages of construction. Once the initial building piece has been placed you use your Hammer on the piece to finish off constructing it. This new mechanic will tie into player and weather effects in a future update. Incomplete walls and floors won’t protect you as well from the elements as completed pieces. Likewise, lower tiers will offer less protection from sun and rain than higher tiers. Weather effects will also deteriorate building pieces so you will have to repair your structures as they’re damaged. This provides a purpose and motivation to find better building materials that offer better protection and resistance to weather. The new system has been integrated with the Wood, Plank and Corrugated tiers. Driftwood and Steel are yet to be completed as we’re re-evaluating and finalizing the base and highest tiers. Existing building pieces also have additional LOD’s.

- New Loot Containers!
Added new Wood Crate, Small Locker, Large Locker and Console models. Added these new containers to Shipwreck and Sea Fort generation. Locker and Console containers are fixed and cannot be moved like Wood Crates. We will also be expanding these with craftable storage like woven baskets and a few more types of containers that you can find by exploring now that the new Storage system is completed.

- Removed Discovery Fog.
The Discovery Fog has been a polarizing feature. Some players liked it, others disliked it, others didn’t mind it and it just plain confused the rest. It did serve a technical purpose to hide un-generated islands and their billboards suddenly popping in. It also helped performance by having less billboards on-screen, however once you’ve discovered the islands in the area around you they all end up being drawn anyway. In any case, the feature has been removed. Now we generate the billboards as soon as a zone is visible and we’ve also added a Billboard Density setting to control the quality and amount of billboards generated for a zone for different systems. Further optimizations to this will be coming with our work on bringing back the infinite generation.